Three Goals, Three Girls in Shutout Victory

PROVO – In the first-ever game between BYU and Loyola Marymount women's soccer at South Field, the Cougars defeated the Lions 3-0 with three goals from three different players to stay in second place in the West Coast Conference.  

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"I am really proud of the girls," BYU head coach Jennifer Rockwood said. "We came out and played with our backs against the wall. We want to do well in conference and want to find a way to get to the NCAA tournament. We know we have to play well these last few games and we got off to a good start tonight." 

Junior Carlee Payne got BYU on the board in the 22nd minute of the game. Payne spun around her defender and banged the ball off the right post to put the Cougars up 1-0. BYU is now 19-1-1 in games when Payne scores a goal.

The next goal in the game came 48 minutes later when senior Jennie Marshall slid a shot between three Lion defenders for her fifth goal on the season. The goal gave BYU a comfortable two-point lead with 20 minutes left to play in the game.

Jaiden Thornock was the third Cougar to get on the board with an acrobatic goal in the 85th minute. The goal was Thornock’s fourth on the season.

The shutout was the fifth in 2011 for goalkeeper McKinzie Olson and first BYU shutout since defeating Utah State 1-0 on September 22 of this season. The game also marked the first time the team has scored at least three goals in back-to-back games this season.

BYU controlled the ball throughout the first half and outshot LMU 10-2 in the opening 45 minutes. The Cougars had five shots on goal in the half compared with two for the Lions.

The second half was much of the same for both teams as BYU continued to control the ball and outshot the Lions 12-3 in the half. LMU’s best chance at a goal came in the 65th minute on a corner kick but Payne headed the ball out before the Lions could score.

"We want to play with a sense of urgency but still have the composure to make decisions," Rockwood said. "I thought we moved the ball well tonight but still need to work on finishing. We did have three great goals tonight, so we are happy about that." 

BYU will continue WCC play when they play at San Francisco on October 27 at 6:00 pm MT. The Cougars will take on San Diego two days later on October 29 in Provo at 1:00 pm MT. 

Coach Rockwood

“We didn’t know much about Loyola because we haven’t played them in years. We have been focusing on our attacking with a lot of crossing and finishing. We want to do a better job of putting the ball in the net and we did that tonight, so we accomplished one of the things we have been working on. It was great to see Jennie go in and help us put this away with that second goal.”

“Jaiden has done a great job this season. She is one of our leading goal scorers and had a fantastic goal tonight. She has adjusted well and has a great future in this program.”

“We will continue to do the same thing and will work on becoming a little bit more dangerous. We will be getting lots of reps around the goal  and I am really pleased with the direction we are going. Hopefully that will carry the momentum over to next weekend.” 

Jaiden Thornock

"I think it was just great teamwork from everyone. Kayla and I connect well together and she knew right where to find me. We’ve been working on those on touches in practice."

"It’s a great feeling to be here and I feel honored to come in and get some minutes as a freshman. I feel very lucky."

"We have a week off before our next game but I just think we have to keep working hard and anything can happen."

"I think we had a really great performance today, we’ve been practicing hard and it definitely showed today."